The threat from Dr X
by kklo
Summary: A story about an old male acquaintance of Charley who has gone crazy scientist and has unfinished business with someone on Mars. My first collaboration with Ylla. I re-wrote the story quite thoroughly later on, making it a wee bit less crappy.


The threat from Dr. X

Prologue

  
"...DEATH!"  
The two human creatures didn't react when the word was spoken, though it was their final sentece.  
They had never expected anything else and there wasn't anything they could do since both of them were chained with powerabsorbing crowns on their heads.  
The selfproclaimed judge waved his hand impatiently.  
"Death by shooting. Let's get over with the execution as soon as possible!"  
The human-looking female with the name Sakeerni turned her head and looked at her child who was held back by two muscular guards.  
Her husband James Streds didn't move a muscle in his face and the whole calmness made him look completely cold.  
"No! Don't do it! Don't hurt mom and dad!" screamed the boy and tried to bite his superiors without success.  
"Take them away!" said the leader and made a new gesture.  
"**_NOOOOO! DON'T KILL THEM!!!_**"  
"Shut up you little whelp! Or else I'll do something to make you be quiet!" barked the leader to the boy who stopped screaming and burst into tears instead.  
The guards had disappeared with the captive and soon could four load shoots be heard and the young child stopped struggling while the laughing leader walked up to him and leaned over smiling.  
"Don't you worry son, your parents didn't suffer much. What do you think we should do with _you_ now?"  
The addressed raised his head and met the martians cold eyes with a hot gaze so filled of hatred that it looked like his eyes were burning.  
"You want to kill me, don't you? I can see your motives, little boy, but your life will end here." Said the mouse sweetly.  
"**Hey you!**" he barked, and pointed at the two muscular martians who still held the kid hard.  
"Yes, sir!"  
"Starburst, take him out of here and put an end of him! Now! I can't bear to see crying children" he added the latest with a grimreaper-grin.  
Without protests grabbed the mouse his blaster, grabbed the youngster's collar and dragged him out of the port, out in the desert.  
After he had marched on for about five minutes threw Starburst the child to the ground and aimed at him.  
Shaking and sobbing, the human looked up on him with big scared eyes filled with tears.  
Startburst hesitated for a short while, then put his blaster back in the holster and said: "Run kid! Run for all you're worth! There is a cave a few miles east from here with a transported that will take you back to Earth. _But hurry!_ Before I change my mind. **_GO!_**"  
Panicstruck, the boy ran off as fast as he could, he fell several times but got up, continued to run before he fell again. The ache was persistent in every part of his body.  
About three hours later reached he the transporter, completely exhausted and sweaty, feeling more dead than alive.  
Before he was going to enter the transporter, he turned around and shouted into the empty desert: "**I will have my revenge, and avenge my parents! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! _I HATE YOU FOREVER!!_**"  
Then he went into the transporter and that light took him to a place, very far away.  
  


********************************************  


  
The Threat From Dr. X  
©1997-99Ludwig Tr. (CO-writer: Ylla K)  
  
  
(Twenty years later)  
  
The Biker Mice woke up late this day, in the Last Chance Garage, due to an unusual late party the day before.  
It was a really nice day with the sun was shining through the window. Charley was standing there with a frying pan in her hand and looked pretty mad.  
Some mornings could be very interesting, right?  
The three males didn't realize her presence first but when they did and saw the expression on her face, they quickly understood that this morning would be as nice as beeking woken up by a cold shower.  
"So, I see, you guys had a nice nap!"  
"Um, yes sweetheart, we did!" Vinnie replied.  
"Charley-girl, what's wrong?" asked Throttle.  
"Um, oh, nothing! There is just this _little_ itty-bitty problem with the stove and I **saw** that you did something with it yesterday."  
"Well, if you're wondering, whether we would do something to it, then, NO! Of course **not**!" said Throttle.  
"...and of course, we didn't take that black wire out!" Vinnie commented without thinking.  
"What black wire?"  
"Um, the black wire, that we didn't know the function of... we had never seen it in a stove before." said Modo and scratched his head.  
"Can you please _show_ me this wire?"  
"Why?"  
"I want to know what it is..."  
"Um, well..." started Throttle."  
"We kinda lost it." finished Modo.  
"WHAT?!"  
"Um, we lost it..."  
"Okay, okay, where did you get it from?" asked Charley and tried to calm down.  
"Uhm, come, we'll show ya." said Throttle and walked up.  
  
At the same time, in another area of Chicago was something strange going on.  
A human male appeared on the street, straight out of the air. He was dressed in white and black clothes.  
His eyes were violet and shining. Almost beaming. By intelligence and madness.  
He had a black tie, black shoes, black socks and black gloves. A white shirt, white pants (probably also white underwear) and a white coat of that kind scientists use in the laboratories to avoid getting acid and such on their clothes.  
Slowly turneded he to the dark shadowy spot right behind him and watched it silently. He waited, a minute, two, ten, an hour.  
Finally appeared a green gem in the air, it emitted a strang cold emerald-shining light, which started to create a female form.  
A very beautiful woman was formed and when the green light had disappeared was her blue skin almost shining.  
This was a formal meeting, absolutely nothing else, her cold gaze and unmoving face made it crystal-clear even for an idiot that she found this humanlooking creature to man, less attractive.  
But this man was no idiot. No no, far away.  
"Ah, so you finally decided to arrive? It was about time."  
She didn't answer, folded her arms and looked straight at him.  
The man chuckled at the protest gesture.  
"You should answer when I speak to you, Virekka. As you know am I a patient man, but I don't like incompetence and childlish sullenness."  
"Oh, I **_know_** you don't, Frank!" She replied with ice in the voice.  
"Don't **you call me** **that!** Say _Dr. X_ with respect as all others do!"  
"Yea-yea, you wanna yell at me for the rest of the day, or do you wanna shut up and give me a target?" she answered, thinking; -_before you become my next target.  
_"I am not sure I like that tone, dear. Try to remember **who** I am and what I can do. Yes, I do have a target for you!" he answered and gave her a picture, well aware of what she was thinking.  
"**These** creatures are your target."  
She had a quick look.  
_-Throttle, Modo, and Vinnie!_ she thought but said careless: "Who are they?"  
"They are the three creatures from Mars, who possibly can help me get the idiots called Plutarkians. You have to use these..." he said, giving her a little bag that said "Sears Perfume Section" on it.  
"There are three bottles there. You make sure that each drinks one. That will make them listen to me and me only and do what I want them to do. But remember, no overdoses, that would kill them immediately."  
_-Uh-huh, so that's what you want me to do?_ she thought, looking at the picture.  
"But, okay, I'll do that, they look easy. How much are you willing to pay for the mission?"  
"450,000 golds."  
"**What?**" she looked at him, almost laughing (strange for her, still).  
"_450,000?!_ No way, forget it!" she said, folding her arms again and turning around. "A million is my minimum!"  
Dr X stared chilly at her, but a small smile of total selfcontrol danced on his lips, proving that he still thought he had the situation under complete control.  
"I don't think you have any choice."  
"I think I do! Good-bye! See ya in your next life!" she said and started to walk back to the spot where the gem appeared.  
"You do as I tell you! It's nothing more to discuss. Remember what I can do. I got the ace in the hole, remember?"  
She turned around, looked at him again, then gave up.  
"All right, I'll do it. 500,000 golds! But you'd better pay those."  
"Good girl, you understand when you're defeated. Money is no problem for me. Go now, do it and do it properly, because I only give you 24 hours!"  
"Oh, I'll be done way before that!" she replied and watched him smack the shoe's heels, followed by that sharp lighting.  
When it was gone, he was gone too.  
Virekka sighed deeply, looked at the picture that was still in her hand and started walking towards the center of the city.  
  
In the Last Chance Garage were the three martians showing Charley the where they took the wire from.  
"Um, see that wire sticking out?" asked Throttle who was closest to the stove.  
"Yes?"  
"Well, it was attached to it...what?" he said raising his head and looking at her strangely shaped mouth. It wasn't a smile, she was not mad, but it was something in between.  
A strange expression they had never seen before.  
"You TOOK A BLACK WIRE OUT OF THERE??" she exploded.  
"Huuuh, yes sweetheart, but, but..." Vinnie said nervously.  
"Um, guys I didn't tell you this..." she said, faking calm. "But, that wire is a VERY imortant part of the power-supply!"  
"Um, what do you mean? I thought this place got power from the city." said Modo, scratching his head again.  
"Just WHY do you think our power bill is so low? Because it's cheap with electricity in these days??!"  
"Uh, Charley girl... Is it not possible to repair it or something?"  
"Of course Throttle, I can repair it! Just keep in mind that it takes time and material I could have used to do something more important!" Charley yelled. "Can you three trash youself out of here and stay away for a few hours??"  
The mice looked at each other and decided to leave without protests.  
Charley watched them when they left and shook her head highly annoyed.  
"Great kind of men, eh? Unable to keep their hands of things! Goddamn, sometimes I wonder if they really are adults!" she muttered and returned in.  
  
Meanwhile had Dr. X. returned back to the big dark caves on Mars where he had his headquarter.  
Worried, scared, enraged, sad, crazy. All kinds of negative feelings were screaming through him, all singing their own melodies.  
It ended up in an orchestra which sounded horrible and made it impossible to think straight.  
He was still strong enough to challange Virekka who had emotionally and psychically powers way beyond him.  
Emotions were his weapons and his weak point. Howcome he never was able to turn them all off?  
Enraged grabbed he a box of test tubes and threw them all into the wall.  
"**I am the Dr X!** I **must **have the **respect**! No one can **stop** me! I will take **anything** I want! **SHIT!**"  
He sat down and thought, was this just foolish, and would he lose if it was? What would happened then?  
Deep down into the shit again? Everything seemed to be foggy and way too complicated at times like these.  
Virekka was darn unforeseeable and hard to control, that made her dangerous as a rattlesnake, even if he had the best blackmail object possible.  
Suddenly appeared a plan in his head.  
Right after her mission was done, the three most famous biker warriors in the galaxy (and maybe the universe?) would become his own warriors. When they returned with the witch would he simply throw her into some empty dimension and let her stay there as long as he lived.  
Her sister Zuel would be a nice company. The sister she had been longing for so much that she did all work for the silly sum 500,000 golds.  
With them catpured in the timeless space would NOTHING stand in the way and he could finally do what he wanted to, all that he had dreamt about so many years.  
He got up to his feet and began to laugh.  
  
Back on Earth, at the same time, looked Charley around to make sure she was alone.  
No one at all. Good!  
She walked up to the brickwall, opened a brick with her finger and reached into a hole in the wall until she found what she was searching for.  
Her hand was coloured by dirt and dust from the bricks, but the black wire seemed to be intact.  
With some professional movements did she attach the wire into the stove and felt how the energy started to stram through it. All set, all done.  
"Secret things are necessary with three I-must-touch-everything-to-find-out-what-it-is macho mice around!" she said to herself and laughed silently.  
Charley closed the panel and put the brick back into the hole. The edges disappeared and left a solid surface.  
All she needed now was a nice shower, so she hurried to the bathroom.  
Twenty minutes later came she out again, newly showered and in a way better mood than earlier.  
The door slammed behind her and Charley looked around, an unknown woman was standing there.  
More like, a creature that LOOKED liked a woman; with dark blue skin and foxy eyes.  
"Who are you?"  
"**Me?** Oh, don't mind me, I'm just a little girl who walked into the wrong building." the woman answered smiling coldly at her, then said: "So, I see you're using magic in your spare time, but that's okay. Do you know me?"  
"Would I ask who you were if I did?" Charley replied and her hand was moving to the table, she knew that there was a weapon hidden there for situations like these.  
"Um, no. I'll give you a hint. I am Virekka. Now do you know who I am?"  
"Uh, no..?"  
"Well, that's okay. You don't have to know me, you see. Slee-eep! Schâ-ëëe..." she started mumble in an unknown language.  
Charley fought against the magic power which overwhelmed her, but lost directly and fell to the floor.  
Virekka stopped chanting and moved towards the human and begun to become more transparent before she finally turned into a stream of darkblue air skin.  
It traveled towards Charley and disappeared as it touched her face.  
  


*  


  
Vinnie, Modo and Throttle didn't suspect anything when they came riding back to the garage. They had grabbed several hotdogs and rootbeers for breakfast and felt ready to challenge the fate and go back   
Charley had calmed down, just as they expected. When they entered the garage found the four mice their human friend laying on the floor, as calm as ever.  
"Sweetheart! Wake up Charley! What's the matter with ya babe?!" Vinnie shouted and shook her gentle.  
She woke up slowly and mumbled, "Please Vincent, there's nothin' wrong with me…", then got up on her feet.  
"See I'm fine!" she claimed looking around.  
Vinnie stood up, disturbed over that she had seen him react so caring.  
"Are you sure?" Modo asked her.  
"Yeah, absolutely!"  
"Then, why were you lying on the floor?" asked Throttle  
"Um, I was tired.. and I fell asleep..."  
The mice didn't believe her. They could almost smell that something was terrible wrong.  
"...so, where have you guys been?"  
"Huhm. We went to a bar and had breakfast." Throttle replied, confused over of Charley's odd behavior.  
"Oh, I see. Are you guys thirsty or something? I have some drinks for you."  
She hurried out of the room, looked back to see whether they were watching. For a short moment did she just look at the cupboard, then took out four glasses.  
"Hey guys! you want coke or sprite?!" she yelled back.  
"Coke!" she heard them say at once.  
_Well, good for me_" she thought. _Will be less visible.  
_Quickly had she poured Coke into three of the glasses,and Sprite in the fourth. A peculiar movement with the hand, the bottles she had got from the doctor appeared in her hand.  
After pouring them into the glasses for the mice before putting them on the cupboard. For a while did she hesitate and thought. Virekka had gotten an idea. She forced Charley's hand to move once again in that strange way.  
This time did a white tablet appear which she put into one of the glasses. They would be suspicious if she was away too long, so she hurried out with the glasses.  
"Hey Charley, why the cutting board?" asked Vinnie the moment he saw it.  
"'Twas the first thing I found."  
"_'TWAS?!_" asked Modo and Throttle at the same time.  
"IT was." she corrected herself, thinking _I'm gonna regret staying off of this planet for so long.  
_"I am really feeling a little bit dizzy today, seems like I can't say anything right." Charley's body said and offered the three males their drinks.  
She emptied her sprite and watched them silently.  
"This tastes strange, have you put somethin' into ours drinks?" Vinnie asked before he froze. Both he, Throttle and Modo fell into the same kind of trance.  
"Finished!" Virekka said out load and left Charley's body.  
  
On Mars was doctor Frank X. done with **his** work.  
Nervousity was about to shatter thet neat self-control he had built up. Being hunted by both the Martian Army and Freedom Fighters was bad enough to give a normal guy nightmares.  
Safety was always very important for a man in his position. If you have magnificent plans for your egoistic purposes should you be scared constantly, they are coming to get you.  
The laboratory was empty, he was completely alone just like he wished. Or did he really want to be that lonely?  
All the loneliness almost threw him into schizophrenia sometimes, he started to have dialogs with himself. Just like he did right now.  
"You could have been more careful, dear doctor X!"  
"Careful? Frank, my friend, you can always be more careful than you are. Why don't you just give up, and let the martians execute you? Virekka will tear you apart, limb after limb, stop denying it. She's way older, wiser and powerful than you will ever be."  
"Virekka has no chance, she may be a first class witch, but my intelligence is still way sharper than hers. Why should I even worry?"  
"Are you truly sure about that?"  
"Yes."  
"I am not. So convince me."  
Frank walked around in circles filled of doubts.  
"Ain't death better sometimes, Frank?"  
"Air! I must have AIR!"  
He ran to one of the exits, opened the door and sighed when the fresh air streamed inside the large hall, so absolutely wonderful fresh air. He could get a good view over the valley, and down there were lots of Martian freedom fighters searching the terrain.  
"Oh no! Fucking _shit_!" Frank exclaimed and grabbed his binoculars.  
A close examination is always the best way of getting an overview of your enemies. The mice were having heavy weapons with them and had their bikes (of course), more weapons, grenades, etc.  
The situation was bad; if they managed to discover the hidden building and its entrances, he would be in a very oppressive situation.  
"But, heh-heh, they don't know what I have here, what kind of a deadly surprise I have for them." He mumbled and stepped back into the halls to prepare for an eventual battle.  
  
Carbine was standing on the top of the hill, looking down on what used to be (a long time ago) a sea of green. She heard footsteps and turned around, half-taking her gun out. It was a mouse, one of her kind, one of the creatures she trusted, so she put the gun back.  
"Carbine." said the young male mouse. "We have found him at last."  
"Thank you Rimfire." she answered, sighing, taking one last look at the red soil behind her and followed him.  
"It looks like his central headquarter. We believe he's in there right now."  
"Well done! X a very dangerous person. It's unbelievable how a simple human can gain so much power."  
"What will the army do with him when he is captured?"  
"Um, well, first we have to capture him. Remember how many mice he has taken out already?"  
"All we knows is that they just disappeared."  
"Well, we don't want more of us to follow them, do we? We really have to approach him carefully. If he will be captured are the army just going to interrogate him. What are you trying to say?"  
"What you mean is that they're going to try to torture the truth about the other mice, etc, out of him and then execute him? "  
"The army won't kill him, I think. He might prove useful alive. However, ALIVE does not mean free, so X will be under constant observation and guard until we find a place where he will stay for the rest of his life where he can't get out of."  
"As far as I know is he in the age between 20 and 25, not much older than me. Do you really think it's necessary to judge him like that? I mean, maybe he is manipulated by someone else?"  
"Like who?"  
"I don't know, the Plutarkians maybe?"  
"No Rimfire, Plutarkians don't have nearly enough power and technology to do something like that. This man won't let anyone control his actions."  
"But... what if we tried to **talk** with him Carbine? Maybe he'll come over to our side. You told me that he hates Plutarkians as much as we do."  
"Rimfire, he is **insane** and he is **dangerous**! He just wants to control the galaxy, the Plutarkians are another obstacle in his way. He hates any life form that stops him from getting the ultimate control."  
"No choices then, right? But are you sure the army won't kill him?"  
Carbine didn't answer him this time.  
_They **are** going to do it. They will execute him when he has told everything they want to know.  
_"General Carbine, we have nothing left but to to break and enter!" Someone shouted.  
She and Rimfire went to their bikes and joined the others.  
The moment they all had been waiting for was right ahead.  
  
He went back to his main laboratory while attaching a watch around his wrist.  
It was a little thing that injected a deadly dose of poison into his blood. He would get the last word if they siezed him.  
"But have you courage enough to kill yourself, Frank?"  
"Of course X, what do you think would happened if the army captured me? They would kill us without mercy. Would you like to try to beg for your life?"  
"No, I will never show myself defeated! Never give those fucking martians that pleasure!"  
"If you don't have time to activate the hydrogen-bomb, use the watch instead. Okay?"  
"Right! I will..."  
Dr Frank X. hurried towards an unusual nifty looking controlpanel and was about to activate the bomb when an explosion suddenly stroke.  
"They're already _here_! Quick! _Activate the BOMB now! _What are you waiting for?"  
He got a message on the screen: "Error 309! Connection terminated! Error 309! Connection terminated! Error..."  
"They have broken the connections to the central, quick, inject the poison!"  
H was just going to push the little deadly button when someone grabbed his hand, preventing it from completing its mission.  
He shouted in surprise and turned around and faced the blue witch who was standing behind him.  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Get the hell out of here if you have any sense or the martians will kill you faster than you even have time to say '**Hi! Nice weather today'**!"  
"No they won't. The bikermice are here and under our control."   
Sweat poured down Frank's face and Virekka smiled delighted.  
It was a pleasure to see him actually scared.  
"Then **do something!** Tell them to fight against their comrades. The FFs can be here in any second!"  
"There are three of them and an army of mice against us."  
"So do something yourself!"  
"Me? Why? Because you threaten me and make me do things I don't want to? Or maybe because you did something to my little sister? Or maybe because you want to take control of the universe, but can't do it?"  
"I only did what I had to do. If they come in here am I forced to kill myself, and, I will drag you with me if I have to!"  
"Why? There is nothing you can do to make me do anything! I am immortal, you are not."  
"Listen up now, because I do not wish to kill you, I haven't killed anyone in my whole life!"  
"Then what did you do with everyone who disappeared?"  
"None of your business. Do something, and I mean **NOW**! "  
"Oh yeah, fine! I will let you get yourself killed here, I don't care!"  
He was shaking nervously and got out: "They're all alive and in another dimension..."  
"Continue! Once you're done, I'll get you outta here.".  
"Your sister tried to kill me! Frank almost cried and he had never done that since he was a kid. "I had a chance to rescue myself. So I threw her into the ZX-451 dimension."  
"Really? Good boy! I'll get you outta here, but you better be telling the truth, or otherwise, you'll be in the hands of the Freedom Fighters the next second." she said turning on her crystal, grabbing his arm and disappearing with him seconds before the martians entered the room.  
Frank had lost his chilly, selfcontrolled image and cried when they both arrived to Earth again.  
"Stop that whining!" she said grinning. "You look like a baby."  
Ashamed and furious because she had witnessed his weakness did he stop.  
"So, you pathetic little weasel! How does one get to that dimension?"  
"The things we need are left in my lab on Mars." he replied, once again chilly and controlled.  
"Hm, that means someone has to get them..." she said and a smile appeared on her face.  
  


***  


  
__In the lab on Mars  
The Freedom Fighters had searched through the big caves properly without finding anything they had expected or were interested in. The person they had hoped to find was also gone with the wind.  
"General Carbine," one of them reported, "we have found nothing of use, not even a slightest hint of the location of our lost camrades."  
"Are you sure you looked **everywhere**?" she said. _There's gotta be something there, _X_ keeps everything here.  
_"Positive, General. There are no hints where he is."  
She scowled and walked away without noticing that Rimfire followed her.  
"Carbine, have you found out what kind of science he he has been experimenting with here?"  
The female martian jerked by surprise when he spoke. As general was it important to have a controlled outlook, so she just answered without showing her anger over that he had scared her:  
"Um, not really, but we think he worked with bombs, mainly. Though he has also been working with other things we don't know anything of."  
"No one who found even a hint?"  
"Just a few miscellaneous, nothing-to-do-with-each-other items." she sighed.  
"But, I don't get it! What do you think made him like that? Why this need for power? I don't understand why."  
"Um, same thing as Plutarkians, probably, never enough..."  
Something suddenly caught her attention, someone was approaching. Someone who looked exactly like Throttle.  
_What would he be doin' here? It's just my imagination.  
_However, as the figure on the horizon moved closer and became bigger, she saw that it was really him.  
"What is it?" Rimfire asked.  
"Um, could you wait a sec?" she said, not really asking and walked to a piece of rock, onto which she put her gear and got out the binoculars.  
"Throttle..." she mumbled quietly seeing him walk up to her, still not believing that he was finally here.  
"Carbine.." he said and hugged her.  
"I'm so glad you're back!" she whispered then kissed him.  
"Me too."  
"Have you come back to stay this time? Where are Vinnie and Modo?"  
"What have you done here, babe? Why are there so many Freedom Fighters here?" He asked, ignoring her question.  
"Well, you know about X?"  
"X? You mean Dr X?"  
"Yes, him. He has got his headquarters here. But he was already gone when we broke into the place and we know nothing more."  
"Wasn't it X who has been killing several martians?"  
"Right again, but we don't know if they're dead, yet. They just disappeared. That's why we have to find him. To know what really happend."  
"When he has spoken all of importance, he will face a death sentence. I don't like when the army kills people, you know that?"  
"I know and I don't like it either, but the topmen in the army hate him passionately after all he has done, and I don't know whether I can keep it away from him. If only there was a peaceful way to stop him permanently."  
Throttle wrapped his arms around her.  
"I wish we could make everything in a peaceful way sweetie..."  
"Throttle!" a voice came behind and Throttle turned around.  
"Rimfire!"  
"Man, it's great to see you Throttle! Where's ucle Modo, and Vinnie?"  
Throttle didn't answer.  
"Yes Throttle." Carbine said. "Where is uncle Modo? And Vinnie?"  
"Back on Earth."  
"Really?" asked Rimfire, disappointed. "Why aren't they here? Why didn't they come with you?"  
"Throttle, what's wrong?" asked Carbine. "What happened to them?"  
"Nothing, Carbine, they are fine."  
"Then, why aren't they here?"  
"They couldn't come." he answered, panicking to think of an excuse. "They had to protect Charley."  
"Protect her? Throttle, what happened?"  
"She was...attacked.."  
"WHAT?! Is she wounded?" Rimfire asked.  
"No, no, no, she wasn't hurt...that much. We just fear that she might get attacked again, so Vinnie stayed with her, and Modo stayed back to make sure Vincent doesn't do anything stupid."  
The two other mice stared at him, interrogative.  
He wouldn't come up with any more answers and told them that he really wasn't sure about what was going on, but it would be okay.  
They somewhat accepted his explanations and everything seemed to cool off.  
Later that day when everyone was gone did Throttle leave Carbine with the excuse that he wanted to check something out in the laboratories first, and would come to the base later.  
Well inside looked looked Throttle around to make sure he was alone, then sneaked into the main hall, and pressed a stone in the wall. The wall budged and a revealed a secret passage.  
Time was short so he walked down the stairs in a faster pace than usual. On the lowest floor was a magazine located which contained lots of spares and machines. A pair of shoes was thrown in a corner.  
Throttle ignored all obviously unique and expensive instruments and grabbed the shoes instead.  
They were black, and made of the skin from some unknown creature. The soles were made of a very solid plastic material and were also unusual thick.  
To make sure that they were what he had been ordered to get did he push on two spots of the left shoe at the same time. The shoe responded with a low buzzing sound and exposed an output socket in case someone wished to connect them with a computer or another machine.  
He pushed the spots again and the shoe hide its secret again.  
After he had went to the upper floor again and closed the secret entrence did Throttle put his wrist to the face and said: "Okay, beam me up, Scotty."  
Next second he was materialized.  
  


****  


  
"Are you sure that the drink worked properly? You didn't change it?"  
"You don't trust me, Frank."  
"Do NOT call me FRANK you idiot. Why do you think I would trust YOU? Jeez."  
"You should."  
"My dear, I know your hatred, you must think I am dumb."  
"No, but I despise you, because you are a pitiful coward who can't take care of anything yourself."  
The bright light abrupted Dr Frank X before he had been able to say something toxic in reply.  
Throttle arrived from Mars, his misssion was done.  
"Well, you got the stuff?" Frank asked nicely.  
"Yes, doc."  
"Did you get any useful information from the army?"  
"They are going to kill you if they catch you."  
"Oh, how horrible nasty." Frank said grinning. "Anything else?"  
"They haven't got any trace of you."  
"Perfect! Wonderful!"  
"Take it easy! This isn't finished yet you know!" Virekka said with several bits of ice in the vocals.  
"Yes, I KNOW! I will bring your precious sister back to you. When I have made it possible for me to travel a few billions of miles away from her when she arrives."  
"You think I care about if you're dead or alive? I just want to keep you alive until I get my money from you, and my sister!"  
"Well, you're gonna have to stay as my foot-soldier a while longer I'm afraid."  
"Pardon?"  
"If THEY get to me, you'll never see Zuel again. I'm the only one who can bring her back, as you know. With me captured and later on murdered, neither she or the mice be able to come back here, ever.  
Those pathetic martians think they can actually _tourture_ anything out of me! It is indeed a funny situation we have got on our hands, don't you agree Virekka?"  
At this time, it was her turn to be unable of coming with a decent reply because she knew that he had still the ace in the hole, and was well aware of it.  
Frank X smiled when he saw her hesitate.  
"Do you finally understand that I still have the final words in this drama? Good! That you have to do as I tell you alw..."  
"Yes I will! But when you've paid for my missions and brought Zuel back, you're going to receive your own repayment. I will make sure of it, Frank."  
"Oh, how brave! Threating me! Dr X himself!"  
"But one thing you cannot control, is time. Yet, it's in MY hands. I will still be here after you die, but I will make sure that you will die soon. Slowly and painfully!" she said, her eyes glowing white.  
"We'll see about that when times come, yes, I am sure we will. But for now do you have to play the game after MY rules."  
_Rules you can't break, rules you can't bend. No matter how hard you wish.  
_"You're underestimating my abilities. That's why you are in this, (how shall we put it?), _uneasy_ situation."  
"All right." she said, looking down so he wouldn't see her smile.  
_He IS gonna regret that. I will do this mental note to myself; ruin his life the moment he gives back everything he took from ALL of us  
_Frank narrowed his eyes. Her negative feelings vibrated in the air like powerful magnetic fields make the air shiver.  
He slowly inhaled the waves, got some hints of what she was thinking about, but didn't get a good picture of her plans.  
_Don't you even try to read my mind._ She thought and smiled evilly.  
"Of course are your psychic powers far beyond mine, mixed blood, you know." Said Frank and put his hands into the pockets of his carbon-black pants. "Hopefully, I will be able to increase my own psychically abilities someday."  
A really sly smile appeared on his face but disappeared almost immediately.  
"My mother was a white magican from Zeros. By accident did she end up on this boring piece of shit-planet called Earth, hide in the big masses, met my human father, fell in love, they got me after they had been together for four years.  
Sadly enough were my parents radical by nature, and messed with the martian goverment. They managed to capture us all one day, put an energy-absorbator on my mother so her powers would be useless. Dragged us to Mars to kill all of us."  
While he spoke turned Frank around and lost himself in the memories, without noticing that he babbled about his private parts in life.  
"Killing. Ain't that ironic? But then came those plutarkians and showed the disgusting martians how it feels to be chased and killed. However, that is not the main subject. I was supposed to be killed too, but the mouse who was going to couldn't do it and let me escape. I am going to get them for killing my parents. When I rule the entire galaxy will I be able to gain peace. Peace forever, forever..."  
He turned around only to find that he was alone.  
Virekka had left.  
"Oh, **wise**! She has prepared a little surprise for me. Clever ain't she, what do you think, Throttle?"  
The mouse who was still paralysed didn't say a word.  
"Doesn't matter. I know this little place I can go to. A the safe place. No one will find me there. And I give you the honour to be loyal company."  
Frank gave Throttle a quick glance, then added: "You dirty little fucking rattish martian!" and bursted out in laugher.  
  


***  


  
The witch Virekka was standing inside the Last Chance Garage. It was really cold and the atmosphere wasn't really pleasant.  
Vinnie and Modo were still standing by the wall like mummies without wrappings in the zombie-looking state.  
Awake, yet not there, like on a trip somewhere far away.  
Charley was sleeping on the couch, under three warm blankets.  
Shaking, Virekka walked over to Modo. She put her hand on his chest and started chanting in an enigmatic language.  
Nothing happened and she walked over to Vinnie and did the same thing, but no result.  


"Damn." she muttered. "Why did _HE_ take that glass?"  
At the same time woke Charley up from her long, deep sleep. She stared at the stranger and reached for the hidden gun under the table, found it and pointed it at the intruder.  
"Freeze!" she said newly awakened.  
Virekka turned around and looked at her.  
"No, hon! I think it's _you_ who's freezing. Here let me heat this place up a bit." she said in a sweet voice and snapped her fingers.  
Almost immediately Charley felt a warm stream of air and welcomed it.  
"What do you want?" she asked in a nicer voice.  
"I wanted to bring one of your friends back..."  
"What?"  
"... but the one I could bring back is not here, unfortunately."  
"Why?"  
"The doc needed him, so I had to take him to Mars. I didn't know he would be the one I am able to wake up."  
"Wake up from what?"  
"Something I don't know...one of his chemical drugs."  
"Doc? Him? Who?"  
"Dr X. A totally crazy and hazardous weirdo who forces me work for him."  
"I am not sure I get this. What has this with me, the guys, to do…? Who is this X?"  
"No one knows much about him. Except for the fact that his parents died and that he used to be known as **Frank**... something. Right now, I can't remember what his second name really is."  
"I have no idea about if it's right, but could it possible be Streds?"  
"Right! That's it! How did you know?"  
"We were in the same bio. classes at collage. He is definitely one of the oddest persons I have ever met."  
"He is deadly dangerous. Forces me to help him to gain control over the galaxy by capturing my sister in some dimension somwhere in time."  
"We have got to do something! Get Throttle back and Vinnie, and Modo! But where are we going to start?"  
"Yes, but I think I know where he is."  
"Where?"  
"He's on Charon."  
"Where?"  
"Charon."  
"Never heard of it."  
"It's a satellite..."  
"Huh?"  
"A moon of Pluto. He has a little base there."  
"But we need more help..."  
"Yes. So we do better contact the Freedom Fighters and the Army on Mars. They can help us."  
"Okay. I will go ahead at once, but what about Modo and Vinnie? Plus that I don't even know your name yet."  
"Um, it's Virekka."  
"Okay, Virekka. You have to help me to Mars. I have no transporter avaible."  
"Um, well, we can use my teleport crystal. There is only one problem, two actually. One, I can't bring them ALL to Mars, my crystal is not that powerful, and two, the guys up on Mars think you're in some real danger, so I doubt they will be easy to explain all this to."  
"What shall I we do?"  
"We're gonna have to leave Vinnie and Modo here, and travel to Mars, try to convince them."  
"Wait a second... Weren't you the gal who put me to sleep? Yes, you ARE!!"  
"Yes, I did. I'll explain later. We have to hurry, Dr. X maybe is probably working with something bad right now, and we don't have much time!"  
"Okay, Virekka. We have to find Carbine, she is the only one I know besides the guys."  
Virekka reached for her crystal and teleported them to Mars.  
  
Carbine had searched every room that Throttle could possibly be in, but hadn't found him. She asked a few mice, but they didn't know where he was, in fact, they hadn't seen him at all.  
She was mad when she ran down the stairs, not looking and collided with someone and fell on the floor holding her shoulder.  
When she looked up she saw Charley and immediately jumped up, took out her gun and pointed her gun at the blue lady behind Charley.  
"Charley? What ARE you doing here? And who's that thing behind you? Throttle said you were hurt badly!"  
"Virekka, this is, Carbine. Can you please explain to her what this is all about?"  
"Um, okay." the dark blue woman answered. "I'm sure you know Dr. X..."  
"**That** guy? What did he do this time?" interrupted Carbine.  
"Yes, he, um, made me drug Modo, Throttle and Vinnie..."  
"So YOU are responsible for this!"  
"Part of you understanding what I'm about to say includes you listening and not interrupting me every second."  
"Okay, sorry."  
"Well, he made me drug the three mice, so he can use them to get rid of Plutarkians. He gave me one of his liquid inventions that would make them do whatever he wants. I made them drink it but I put an antidote in one of the glasses. Ended up being the one Throttle drank. So, zombie-Throttle came here, in broad daylight, went into the laboratory and got some special equipment X needs, walked out and disappeared."  
"What kind of equipment?"  
"You know how there are a lot of people who disappeared because of Him and are believed dead? Well, they are not dead, they are in another dimension where he put them. The only way to get there is using the components he had hidden in his laboratory. I think he might be on Charon and we need a GOOD method of traveling to get there." she finished.  
"Charon?"  
"Yes. Why does that name create so much confusion? It's so simple! It's a satellite of Pluto and X has a Biosphere there."  
"Oh. but..." Carbine continued, "...maybe we can use the new transporter we have in the headquarter."  
"Sounds like the only way to go. But we'd better hurry up, we don't know what Frank does with Throttle right now."  
  
The transporter was located in the caves deep beneath the surface of the planet. Heavy rocks for walls and roof.  
It had the ability to teleport several creatures to the same place in no time. It was indeed a very useful thing.  
There was one big problem though, the energy problem since the machine required lots of energy. After consulting with the first scientist in the base, a mouse called Zip, did they decide to just take Rimfire along.  
Hard breaths, a nervosity went through three of the travelers when they waited to be beamed up, so far away.  
Virekka was the only one who didn't seem to be bothered by the teleportion.  
"Okay, ready? Good luck, and try to come back alive!" said the scientist in a microphone so they could hear it through the built in speakers.  
A light sharp as the sunshine filled the room and the mortal ones shut their eyes and hid their faces in the hands.  
Tickling, the strange beaming-feeling went through them for just a few 1/100 seconds.  
Now, they were somewhere else.  
On a planet which had no air or life. It was just a barren, cold, dark piece of matter that orbited the 9th planet from a star that gave life to two planets, but seemed to have forgotten the others.  
A biosphere, too small to fit any colony, yet big for the planet itself, was the only noticeable source of light and heat.  
Inside that strange building, in an empty storage room appeared the beaming light from the teleporter and left all four travelers on the floor. If they teleported at least ten yards in any direction, they would have faced the cold and airless surface of Charon, along with a safe death.  
"So we are here, I assume? What so we do next?" Charley asked, looking at Virekka, Carbine and Rimfire.  
Carbine looked around, searching for a door, but didn't find it. She turned to Virekka, who sighed, walked to a wall and pushed it lightly with her hand.  
It opened and they saw the man they had searched for, working behind a lab table with two tubes which steamed of chemicals.  
Throttle was standing next to him without moving a muscle.  
The human didn't turn around when they entered, but he raised his hand and made a simple gesture they couldn't understand.  
The martian came out of his trance and looked at them.  
"How nice of you to drop by, honey." he said looking at Carbine.  
"Wha…???"  
She had no chance to end the exclamation, because he had grabbed her neck and squeezed it hard.   
Virekka immediately moved in between them and put her hands on the male's chest, chanting.  
He let go of Carbine and she fell on the floor coughing.  
"Good boy." Virekka whispered quietly so only Throttle would hear. "Now go back and pretend that you are still affected by the mind-controlling drug."  
His eyes were astonished, but he catched up quickly and made an almost invisible nod before going back to the young human who waited by the large table.  
"Well done, martian! Take care of the others now, and for you Virekka..." Frank turned around smiling a smile which was beaming of deep self-confidence and amusement. "..I've been waiting for you, I knew you would come here and make some pathetic trial to take me by surprise."  
They all stared at the famous human they have heard so much about until Charley decided to brake the silence.  
"Frank, I didn't expect this from you."  
"See there, Charlene Davidson, you didn't expect it? Very interesting, you **didn't expect this** from Frank Streds, really you didn't. No way, he is a madman, you'd better run away before he burns you!"  
All looked at him as he was exactly what he just had said.  
"Throttle, take our guests to the cell over there! It's not uncomfortable, it's nice and comfortable."  
"Move it!" Throttle said to the others and waved with a lasergun he now held in his hand.  
Virekka, Charley and the two martians walked in the direction and walked inside.  
Laser-rays appeared automatically and blocked the way out. They were simply captives.  
"I said you underestimated me Virekka. I didn't think that you would be that stupid and bring these martians here. But I was wrong. Did you expect them to be give you anything but trouble? Clumsy and piteable as they are!"  
He snicked and took out a little test-tube from the pocket.  
"In this tube is the elixir which will heal your two martian friends on Earth. What are you willing to do to get it may I ask?"  
"Frank! **Wake up!**" Charley exclaimed. "You haven't the right to control ANY planet and you are not a guy who should mess around with dictatorial manners. Why don't you just give up and drop all bad seed you have growing inside your head? I don't think you will recieve any hard punishment, if it's true, that you haven't killed anyone so far."  
"Right? **RIGHT?!! RIGHTS?!?!?! _RIGHTS!!!!_**" he exploded. "Who's speaking about any fuckin' _rights?_ Rights? Don't make me laugh! Freedom of choice maybe? Choosing the path in life? Rights?! Oh, no no no..."  
He began to wander around in circles like a bewildered icebear as he continued to speak.  
"Lemme see here, my _free_ choices... They are all wonderful! One, I surrender and I will be executed by the nice martian army. Two, I take my own life, you'll be captives here for all time. Three, I don't give a shit for your threats or tries to convince me to _do the right thing_. I think my choice is pretty easy, fellows!"  
"If you surrender now, you'll be better off, than if you surrender later, or if you fail and get captured." Virekka said calmly and totally untroubled.  
"I will be better off, you say? Interesting, very interesting, since you have personally promised me a death with very much pain, hmm? I love this nice logic of yours, dear witch."  
"Well, that's what you get from **me**. I was talking about what you will be getting from the governments of Mars and Earth."  
"Jesus! **The governments on Earth and Mars!!** Oh shit! I heard right, didn't I?? I really did, hah, YEAH! Earth and Mars…oh my..."  
He took a pause and took a deep breath before he continued his monologue.  
"I have never done anything crimal, nothing the sweet laws could find, neither on Mars or Earth. The problem is that if the martians get to me, they are gonna do what they were going to. They will finish the job they began..."  
His voice trailed off and the eyes became unfocused as if some deep emotional memory flew over him.  
But he regained his self-control soon and went on:  
"No matter, I have wasted enough with my value time on you. Now I will offer you all a 1st class, nice trip into the XZ-451 dimension. Take your seat folks."  
"Okay, so you don't wanna give up?" Virekka asked.  
"Hm, a hard question, but I think I must say…no."  
"Okay, I really didn't want to get my hands dirty today, but fine!" she said, raising her hands. Two balls of fire appeared in her hands and as the grew they merged into one big sphere.  
"You'd not better do that. If you do something hasty you won't be able to meet your beloved sister again, ever. If you don't do anything, then you will be able to spend a long time together with her in XZ-451."  
"Oh, I wasn't going to **kill** you." she replied and shot the fire at him.  
He gasped and fell to the floor a little bit burnt, but otherwise okay corporeally.  
When he got upm he snapped the fingers and the laser which held them captured in the cell disappeared.  
"You are still way stronger than I am, you still know how to force people into your way, right?"  
"That's correct. So now be a good boy and get everyone you sent away back, before I make your life a living hell." she said sweetly.  
Frank walked over to the controlpanel very reluctantly. We was used to **give** orders, not take them. Yet, the situation had taken an unexpected turn.  
"You really think it's a good idea to let him do that?" Rimfire asked his company.  
"Why not?" Virekka said.  
"Maybe he's doing something which can hurt us all?"  
"I'm immortal, so there is nothing he can do to me. So if he does something bad I'll get back at him."  
Frank heard the last thing and chuckled then said: "So. This is settled now, and just another command will teleport back the creatures to mars, my laboratory actually."  
"You better be saying the truth." Virekka said with cold eyes fixed at him.  
"Howcome I get this feeling you think I'm going to trick you."  
He wrote something on a keyboard and watched the numbers appear on the screen. A counter started to spit out numbers on a LCD display.  
It started on 31 and counted down to zero.  
"Finished." he said. "They're all in my lab right now, I think it's about twentyseven martians, three plutarkians and of course, your precious little sister."  
They stared at him.  
"'Kay, you've got what you came for. So now I'm going to leave, avoiding bad situations." His finished and the fingers went down to the small transporter device he had attached to his belt.  
"Don't think for a second that we're finished with you yet." said the bluecoloured sorceress and shot a lighting at him, knocking him unconscious.  
"What are we going to do with him now?" Throttle asked and scratched his head.  
"Well, first of all, you can say hi to me!"  
"Uhm, yeah, Hi Vikky...I..."  
"Second of all, you can thank me for freeing you and the others."  
"Are we going to bring him back to mars for trial?" Rimfire wondered.  
"I guess." Replied the sorceress. "If he will live to face it, that is."  
Throttle picked the unconscious man and threw him over the shoulder and said, "It's time to leave. We can't stay here, discussing forever. We have people to pick up on Mars. Tell us more about him when we are back."  
"Hey wait! The cure for Modo and Vinnie!" exclaimed Charley and went up to the table and grabbed the little test-tube.  
"Yes, let's go back now, and Throttle: we're gonna have a long talk after we get back." Virekka said before they took off.  
  
The three martians, Charley and Virekka were transported back in the Headquarters.  
"We're back safe and with the doctor captured!" Carbine yelled to the science staff who was waiting for them to arrive.  
Several freedomfighters came running and examined the feared Dr X with big confusion and strokes of disappointment.  
"Is THIS that famous mad genius?" a male mouse with brown long hair exclaimed.  
"I'm afraid so." Carbine replied. "But now we've got to ride to his lab. We've some friends to pick up there."  
An hour later, Throttle, Carbine, Charley, Rimfire and Virekka were riding back to Frank's lab in the desert.  
About one mile from the caves could they already see figures moving around in the desert in front of the big rocks.  
"Come on! Can you go faster?" Virekka asked Rimfire who was driving.  
"Um, sorry, I have to stay with the group. We'll be there in about two minutes, don't worry."  
The moment the bikes stopped by the crowd of mice Virekka jumped down from the bike and ran to the little girl she had been longing so much to meet again.  
"Vikky!!" the girl yelled happily. "Finally, you're here! I am back!"  
"It's so great to see you to, little sister." Virekka replied.  
They hugged each other hard and for a long time.  
Even the three plutarkians looked happy and were speaking to some of the mice, and that surprised Throttle much. To see that even those fishes had some nice side was rather amazing.  
"Where is **he**?" Zuel asked seriously with revenge-fire glowing in the eyes.  
"Back there"  
Frank had started to regain consciousness. He grumbled and got up to his feet, dirty and weaken. It turned out to be worse when he realized where he was and saw the short sorceress together with the others.  
"The judge is here..." he mumbled and started to move backwards and away from that little, completely innocent looking girl.  
Her eyes began to flare of the power of rage and she raised the hands and shot a lighting boll at the human who fell down to the ground with several burn injuries.  
"How pathetic!" sighed Zeul, looking at the helpless man who turned around with his eyes filled of fear but also some kind of defiance.  
"Have you ever heard of The Wizard of Oz?" He asked, and that was the last anybody had expected him to say.  
The martians looked very confused.  
"No. Never heard of it, but it won't help you now."  
"I always loved that tale when I was little. This little girl, Dorothy, who was transported to the dreamland Oz over the rainbow. I sometimes wished that a tornado would came and take me too to some far away land and help me to escape to a better place. But no tornado came, and how did I end up?"  
"Pathetic!" she repeated.  
"If Dorothy said, 'There is no place like home', and she kicked her heels three times, the magic shoes would bring her back to her home in Kansas."  
Zuel ignored him totally and opened her hand so he could see metal lines going over it to the center, where a purple crystal was located. She placed her hand on his forehead with intention to blow his head up with a power-beam.  
Aware of what she wanted to do, Frank jerked away and dragged himself backwards as she persued him.  
"And in this last moment, let me say..." he finished  
Zuel stopped and waited. No one could speak. They all looked at the scene.  
"There is no place like home. And there is where I'm gonna go."  
He kicked the shoes' heels and with a load zap had Frank Streds vanished before anyone could stop him.  
Zuel looked at the spot where he was standing a second ago, then shot a lightning at the ground in frustration and disappointment before turning back to Virekka, sighing as her face turning back to normal.  
"Man, he is gone. I wonder where he is now?" Rimfire let out.  
"Frank could be anywhere." Virekka answered. "Anywhere!"  
"Maybe he is somewhere over the rainbow?" Charley commented.  
"Nope, only ponies and butterflies live there." exclaimed Zuel  
"An old human legend tells that above the rainbow is a wonderland located. That was what Frank alluded to."  
"Well, we'll get to him again! Vikky? Can WE go home now?"  
"Little sister, we don't have to get him anymore... He has recieved his punishment and will be by his own. He has no one. That is the worst punishments. Unlike us who're finally reunited."  
"Yep!" answered Zuel in a happy laughing voice.  
"He said _home_. I wonder if he lied again... He has no home." Charley mumbled quietly and looked up in the sky, at that little green spot far away called Earth. "If he only could do something good, since he has the power do to much good if he only wanted to. I really would like to know why he decided to become like this."  
"There're a lot of things we never will get answered, Charley-girl. I think it's time for us to go home too and wake up Modo and Vincent." Throttle said.  
Charley nodded slowly and turned to the two blue creatures.  
"Well, I guess it's time so say goodbye, for good. I doubt we will ever meet again. I wish you two the best and that you can go on and live happily. I have one supplication though: can you two promise to leave poor Frank alone in the future?"  
"I guess, we won't deal with him anymore." Virekka said and throw her hair back over the shoulders.  
"Thanks. I don't think he is **evil**, as you claim. He is not that kind of a guy. I get this feeling it's something else beyond all, we will probably never find out. Maybe time will tell though but I doubt it. "  
Virekka nodded and put up her crystal.  
"It's time for us to leave. Go back to Earth and may peace be with you."  
Throttle and Charley got blinded by it and went flying through the space, back to that blue and green planet.  
  


***  


  
Earth is a wellknown planet in the galaxy. There is almost no other planet in the whole Milky Way that has so many seas and islands (except for the Pyroclyters' planet Verdurez that is pretty similiar. 95% of its surface is actually water).  
One of these many, many islands was the home for a human.  
It's not usual that humans decide to live isolated by free will, far away from the modern life's comfort and stress.  
Well, Frank Streds WAS an exception.  
After the latest experiences on Mars and Charon, he had lost all his lust to dominate and control.  
All those needs had drained off of him like the wetness leave newly washed clothes that are hanging in the warm breeze.  
After the narrow escape, he'd ended up on that nameless little piece of the world and made the decision to stay there for a couple of years.  
The society wasn't the right enviroment for him anymore, as it felt. He needed silence and peace to think and grow.  
And to deal with all-that-had-happened-earlier, and maybe be able to become human once more like when he was a child, many years ago.  
But one day, he **would** avenge his parents.  
As long as some certain mice were loose and able to do whatever they wished, no spot would be safe enough, although he suspected the island to be one of the safest places he could find.  
Frank was convinced that all his mental problems would be easy to root out when he had gotten rid of those who made his life this way. So somewhere, he almost WANTED them to find him.  
But...there was so much else he wanted.  
Maybe it was what he couldn't get, that he needed more than everything.  
_Someone to love.  
_Bitter and very tired, the human sank down to the ground and sat on the sandbank to watch the runrise and the arriving day in the east at the horizon.  
  


The End… (for now)  
  



End file.
